Elderly cognitive health education slogans

[Home entrance sticker/Elevator short slogan]

1. If you have nothing to do, chat for 5 more minutes. When you are old, you will forget to take a nap.

2. Frequently rubbing your hands to remember more directions will slow down your cognitive decline by three steps.

3. Spending two more walks with the elderly is better than buying health care products.

[Community Bulletin Board/Roadside Bulletin Board Slogan]

1. Early screening costs less than 100,000, and early treatment of cognitive impairment is not difficult

2. It’s not that I’m an old fool, it’s that my brain needs to be taken care of.

[Slogans at free clinics/senior activities]

1. Test your cognitive function today, and you can still dance in the square next year

2. After playing mahjong and keeping accounts, your cognitive ability will be great and strong.

3. Calculate an extra 20 cents when buying groceries. The more you use your brain, the smarter you will be.

Don’t think these slogans are too down-to-earth and not “professional” enough. I worked as a cognitive education volunteer in a community in Xicheng for half a year last year. At the beginning, we used the standard version given by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Actively prevent Alzheimer’s disease and improve the cognitive reserve of the elderly.” The white text on a red background was posted in the most conspicuous position on the community bulletin board. Half a month later, 19 elderly people who were passing by were randomly interviewed. 16 of them didn't know what it meant. There was also an old man who pulled me and asked me if it was a new pension savings product launched by the country and where to "reserve" it.

In fact, in the elderly cognitive education circle, there have always been two different views on how to write slogans. They have been arguing for several years without reaching a unified conclusion. One group is public health research scholars who believe that to accurately convey disease information, they must use professional terms such as "Alzheimer's disease" and "cognitive impairment". Otherwise, ordinary people will not know that this is a disease, and they will not think of seeking medical treatment if symptoms occur, which will delay things. Before we went to the district to hold a training meeting, Teacher Zhang from the CDC specifically told us that the idea of ​​"memory without naps" was too vague, and it was tantamount to obscuring the seriousness of the disease.

The other group is our front-line practitioners who spend time in the community every day. Their ideas are very simple: no matter how accurate and professional you write, the elderly will not even want to take a second look at it, and they will not even know what you said after reading it, so no matter how good the content is, it will be in vain. Let's just say the word "dementia". It is indeed a standardized expression in academic terms, but if you post it in the community, nine out of ten elderly people will be disgusted. Last year, an aunt in our community saw the word "dementia" on the bulletin board and tore it up on the spot. She said, "You are the only ones with dementia. Who are you cursing?" After that, we never dared to use these two words in public promotional materials.

Later, we came up with a way to take care of both ends. The big slogan was in vernacular that the elderly can understand, and a line of small-sized remarks was added below it. For example, "Early screening will cost you less than 100,000 yuan." Below it was a line of small words: "If you experience symptoms such as sudden memory loss and poor sense of direction, please go to the neurology cognitive clinic for screening in time." This will not offend the elderly, and family members who really need it can also find accurate guidance. After we changed this version of the slogan last year, three times more elderly people came to the community to sign up for free cognitive screening in half a month than before. Among them, two elderly people with early-stage cognitive impairment were actually screened, and timely intervention took more than half a year. Now they can take the bus to the market to buy groceries. Their family members said that before, they only thought that the elderly were "confused because of their age." If they hadn't read the slogan, they would never have thought of going to the hospital for a check-up.

Oh, by the way, when making slogans, don’t just focus on the content, the form is also important. Don’t use fancy calligraphy. Old people generally have poor eyesight, so use bold and bold fonts. A single character should be at least 10 centimeters square, and a maximum of 7 characters can be written on a line. Don’t pile them up on a whole page, which makes you tired just looking at them. Choose the color with white text on a red background or black text on a yellow background. It has the highest contrast and can be seen from a distance. We tried a light foundation with gray text before, but no one asked after it was posted for three days. Later, we changed it to a yellow background with black text. On the same day, someone came over and asked what cognitive screening was.

If it is posted in a specific scene, the content can be more flexible. For example, if it is posted at the door of the mahjong room of the elderly activity center, it says, "After playing mahjong, keep an account, and your cognitive ability will be great and strong." Grandpa and aunt can see it when they look up after playing mahjong. Some people specifically told us that now after playing cards, they will really subconsciously calculate the accounts of winning and losing, which is regarded as training their brains. Posted at the entrance of the vegetable market, it says, "The extra 20 cents you spend when buying groceries will make your brain smarter the more you use it." Old people can remember it at a glance when buying groceries, which is much more effective than standing at the door and handing out a ten-page leaflet.

In fact, after having been preaching for so long, I feel that there is really no "standard answer" slogan. As long as the elderly are willing to read it, understand it, and really take it to heart after reading it, even if it is not "high-class", it is still a good slogan. To put it bluntly, when we do cognitive health education, our original purpose is to break down the difficult-to-understand professional knowledge and mix it into the elderly's daily chat, grocery shopping, and playing mahjong. It is more useful than any pretense.